October at the Camp Nou. For once, Recreativo de Huelva winger Santi Cazorla is not wearing a goofy grin as he stares blankly up at the television screen and shakes his head. It's Week Eight and Recre have just been beaten 3-0 by Barcelona - but only after Eidur Gudjohnsen's death-defying leap, now playing on Barça TV, won the penalty that opened the scoring. "I'm pretty pissed off," admits Cazorla, shrugging. "But then I guess this wasn't our fight. Our fight is next week against Nastic."

His conclusion was logical enough. Like Gimnàstic de Tarragona, Recreativo were First Division newcomers and although they won the Second Division title with the most goals scored and fewest conceded, everyone expected them to struggle for survival. When they visited Barcelona, they had enjoyed a surprisingly good start to the season, beating Villarreal, Real Sociedad and Betis, but they'd also lost to Levante, Getafe and Atlético. Spain's oldest club, founded back in 1889, they'd only been in the First Division twice in their entire history - going straight back down both times. And, as if all that wasn't enough, they had the smallest budget in the league at just 15m.

Cazorla's conclusion was logical enough, all right. Logical but wrong. Barcelona are Recre's fight. Well, maybe not Barcelona exactly, but certainly Zaragoza, Atlético and Valencia. Eight games on and Recre are seventh, 12 points clear of relegation and just two off the Champions League places. Deservedly so, too: their position isn't the product of an easy run or lucky results. Recre scored the league's fastest goal (34 seconds) in defeating Valencia 2-0, destroyed Real Madrid 3-0 last night, were unlucky to lose to Sevilla and Barça, and were robbed against Atlético, Sergio Aguero cunningly donning a pair of natty blue gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints on the ball he pushed into the net for a late winner.

Recre's success is down to humility, good players, and the odd slice of pizza - or a slice in each hand for those who prefer a balanced diet. That, at least, is the verdict of Francisco Mendoza. The Recre president, says Marca, is the most down-to-earth in La Liga (which ain't saying much, admittedly). A man, the paper admiringly reveals, who has no bodyguard, owns just one phone and "does his own shopping". One whose day, lovingly detailed hour-by-hour and accompanied by the requisite photos - Mendoza buys the paper! Mendoza orders coffee! Mendoza goes to the market! - takes him on a amazing, action-packed journey from breakfast to the newsstand, the office to lunch, and Recre's ground to his home. All via the shopping, "which he almost always does on his feet". "It's not unusual," Marca coos, "to see Francisco Mendoza buying fruit, vegetables and even fish!"

Not unusual, but it's not the greens that make him. Or even the Omega-3. It's the pepperoni. "Our signings were fuelled by Telepizza," he admits. "We literally spent the whole summer locked in the stadium, five of us not coming out for days, on the phone, surrounded by empty boxes, as we battled for players."

It was worth it: Mendoza got a plastic toy, two Pepsi glasses, a collection of fridge magnets and almost an entire new squad. All for free. He bought Florent Sinama Pongolle on loan from Liverpool with a 4m option to buy, Mario from Valladolid, Javi Guerrero from Racing, Beto from Bordeaux, Javier López Vallejo from Osasuna, and César Arzo and Santi Cazorla from Villarreal, while withstanding a 6m offer for Nigerian striker Ikechukwu Uche.

In total 17 new players arrived and, under coach Marcelino García, the results have been spectacular. Cazorla's team-mates have taken to calling him Recre's Ronaldinho because he's just as ugly, just as nice and just as good at football; Sinama has scored five already; veteran midfielder Emilio Viqueira has an air of Riquelme about him; López Vallejo is secure; Beto has been superb at centre-back; and Uche, back at last and already on six, is showing why he was last season's top scorer despite missing two months through injury. And that's what makes Recre different: their football. While most newly-promoted sides over-achieve thanks to organisation, muscle and work-rate, Recre have done it with pace, possession and real creativity - it's no coincidence they've had more shots than any other team this year.

Just ask Real Madrid. Last night, Recre paid the best possible homage to the three fans who died in a terrible crash travelling to the game by beating Madrid 3-0 at the Bernabéu. But it wasn't just that they beat Madrid, it was that they absolutely hammered them; that Fabio Cannavaro couldn't have been beaten more comprehensively if Uche and Sinama had set about him with a couple of cricket bats; that all three goals - from Sinama, Uche and Viqueira - were superb; that, as Aitor Fernández rightly put it, "Madrid didn't create a single chance". That even Raúl admitted: "Recre should actually have had more."

While Recre were superb, Madrid were awful - "worse than against Getafe," insisted Fabio Capello. And the most depressing thing was that it was so predictable. This is the third successive year that Madrid have capitulated pathetically in their final game before Christmas. "Some of the players," writes Alfredo Relaño in this morning's AS, "played with the tickets for their Christmas holidays stuffed in their back pockets."

Still, better tickets stuffed in back pockets than comedy headgear stuffed in sweaty slips, eh Dani? When Dani Alves scored the fourth against Deportivo last night, thus confirming Sevilla will be Spain's Christmas No1 even if Barça beat Atléti this evening, the Brazilian celebrated by reaching into his pants and pulling out a Santa hat, which he stuck on his head to dance a Christmas jig. "It was starting to get a bit itchy down there," Alves grinned as Seville's schoolboys fell about giggling. "Luckily, I eventually got the excuse to pull it out from my pants and show it to everyone."